


Intolerable

by EntropistAnon



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Gen, anti-pairing, anti-shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 08:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EntropistAnon/pseuds/EntropistAnon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A vendor makes an assumption that turns out to be deadly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intolerable

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All recognizable Inuyasha characters are the intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi and affiliates. Any original characters are the property of EntropistAnon and may be used with credit to them. Any resemblance of original characters to real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
> 
> Please note that this is a criticism of the SesshoumaruxRin pairing and is meant as an "anti-shipping" fanfiction. If you are of the opposite opinion, be aware that it may be reflected in a generally negative light within the story.
> 
> Thank you.

Sesshoumaru’s tolerance for most things could be best described as ‘short.’ Though he was patient and calculating, he was never one to keep his disdain to himself. Jaken knew this better than anyone, having been hit enough times for running his mouth in a direction that Sesshoumaru did not care to go. Most of the time no words would accompany the beatings, for Sesshoumaru was most deadly silent when expressing his displeasure.

And no greater displeasure greeted him on this day than when he and Jaken stepped into a human settlement to pick up a new garment for Rin. A year had passed since they had placed her in the care of Kaede, but some semi-frequent visits to check on her had alerted Sesshoumaru to the fact that she was doing a share of growing. A kimono that fit her comfortably when he gave it to her at the beginning of the year was already showing much more of her ankles and wrists than it should have. He did not remember growing quite so fast as her when he was her age’s equivalent, but that might have been because of the longevity of his youkai body.

His mind was too preoccupied with trying to remember just how long his childhood took to notice the scurrying humans as they scrambled away from him. It was a reaction he had come to expect anyway, so by now he barely even registered the quailing creatures around him. He did make a brief note of a group out in front of an inn, men with hoes and spades eyeing him out of suspicion and defensiveness. They made no move to attack him, so he passed them with only the slightest of warning looks on his way into the alcove of a small vendor. 

The man was short and aging, his topknot receding with his forties. He looked up from rearranging his wares at the youkai framed in the entrance and cringed with fear. Sesshoumaru’s face was backlit by the afternoon sun behind him, making his glare that much deeper. “Uh… Uh…”

“I come for a yukata.” Sesshoumaru took another step forward to cast his glower upon the colorful fabric laid out in rows along the side of the hut.

“I…I see, of course.” The man let out a breath of relief that trembled in residual fear. He tried to draw himself up as proudly as his nervousness would allow in the shadow of the intimidating customer. “I have the best in town.” His voice carried an unsure squeak rather than the confidence it should have.

“Even the best is not good enough for Sesshoumaru-sama, when it comes from a mere human!” Jaken had hidden himself behind the foreboding presence of his master, but learning he was there too made the man jump in alarm. 

He was at a loss for words for a moment, blinking at the little green imp. Not wanting to be rude, however, the man swept his arm shakily over the mounds of fabric he had in stock, looking away from his guests at the same time. “He has the pick of my finest silks to try!” 

“Ha! Lucky for you, Sesshoumaru-sama isn’t looking for new clothing, else he would make it from your skin!” Jaken chuckled darkly at his morbid comment, enjoying how it made the shop keeper cringe again.

“Jaken.”

“Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?”

“Quiet.” Sesshoumaru turned directly toward the man cowering in the corner of the hut. “I require a child’s clothing. For Rin.”

“Rin?” The man was not sure if he was supposed to recognize the name, or even the terrifying youkai that had wandered into his midst, and confusion joined his fear when he thought that he would have known if a face like that had come to his shop before. After sever moments of pause where he wracked his brain for some sort of clue as to whom Sesshoumaru could be referring, he settled on a neutral part of his request he could understand. “Child, I see…”

“Jaken, the measurements.” Jaken pulled out a piece of parchment with numbers written on it, the result of hard work getting Rin to stand still so that Sesshoumaru and Kaede could size her up properly. He thrust it at the balding man, who took it in trembling fingers. “You will make the garment and I shall return for it in three days.”

“I…” The man was about to protest that it may take longer to make the garment grand enough, but immediately thought better of it upon seeing Sesshoumaru’s frown. “I will do my best!”

“See that you do.” With that, Sesshoumaru and his retainer were off, and the shop keeper let out the breath he was holding.

\---------------------------------------------

Three days had the man working long and hard into nights, but the result turned out quite spectacular, if he did say so himself. He had not a stitch out of place, and the colorful silk glistened in the firelight by which he wrapped it. Though it had been created under pressure, he was so pleased with it as to call it his finest work, and bragged about it quite openly among his fellow vendors when he finished it.

His pride in the work he had done was washed away immediately with fear at the sight of Sesshoumaru coming back into his alcove. The youkai held out his hand expectantly, but the vendor placed it on a bed of fabric between he and Sesshoumaru instead, to avoid accidentally touching him. “It… it is finished.” He had wanted to go into detail about how he had sewed it and cut it, as he had done with the other shop keepers about, but he could not find the courage to do so.

Sesshoumaru sliced into the package wrapped around the garment with one long, sharp nail, and the man’s hand raised in protest for a moment until he saw that the fabric beneath was not harmed in the least. His breath was caught in his throat again as the youkai inspected it closely. His heart thumped louder and faster when he saw the crease of annoyance between Sesshoumaru’s brows. “This Sesshoumaru requested a yukata. What is this?”

“It is a much finer gift for the young bride, with an obi fit for the occasion.”

At the word “bride”, Sesshoumaru’s eyes locked onto the man, expression difficult to read, but bordering on askance. Jaken articulated his master’s thoughts. “Who said anything about a bride??”

The vendor’s fearful sputters barely constituted words. “I-I th-thought… Y-young l-lords come to me s-sometimes for… for th-their b-brides’ g-gifts… i-it is the o-only time I-I have kn-known them t-to p-purchase anything n-not for th-themselves!”

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, the beginnings of anger simmering behind them. “Rin is a child. You were informed of this.”

“F-forgive me…” The man gulped. “I-I have m-made b-bride g-gifts for ch-children as well.”

Sesshoumaru waited for no other explanation. His claws ripped straight through the flesh and bone of the man’s torso, blood spattering unpleasantly onto the piles of fabric in the hut. A groan escaped the poor vendor before he slumped over his wares, and the little kimono he had created specifically for a child bride. His blood seeped into his final project, ruining its soft, delicate pattern.

There was no pity in Sesshoumaru’s face, no tolerance for the honest mistake. He had even put on a look of utmost contempt for the corpse before him. He turned on his heel to leave, muttering an icy admonition in his wake. “To corrupt a child’s innocence for petty desires of the flesh… Humans have no right to call youkai evil.”


End file.
